The present invention relates to a method for controlling a bill-processing machine, and in particular, to a method for controlling a bill-processing machine that enables the amount of money existing in the bill-processing machine to be determined during normal operation or upon shifting of a register operator. The bill-processing machine is suitable for a machine, such as a change unloading machine, that is used at a register of a supermarket or convenience store to enable received bills to be housed therein, while enabling the housed bills to be reused as change.
In recent years, bill-processing machines (change unloading machines) have been introduced into supermarkets and convenience stores together with coin processing machines. The bill-processing machines are connected to a higher apparatus, such as a POS (Point Of Sales) system, to enable received bills to be reused as change.
In general, the bill-processing machine has a function for mechanically receiving a loaded bill, accumulating and housing the bill in a bill housing, and sending input money information to an external higher apparatus or in response to a change unloading request from the external higher apparatus, unloading a corresponding amount of bills from the bill housing as change.
Such bill and coin processing machines are introduced in order to automate money loading and unloading operations to reduce the burden of a register operator who must handle cash, while increasing the efficiency of a settlement task and eliminating calculation errors.
FIG. 13 is an explanatory side view for showing an internal configuration of a conventional bill-processing machine. The illustrated bill-processing machine is called a xe2x80x9ccirculatory bill-processing machinexe2x80x9d that classifies input bills into three money types: 1,000 yen, 5,000 yen, and 10,000 yen, and that delivers housed bills as change. The bill-processing machine comprises an input port 1 through which bills are input, an input-money identification section 2 for identifying the loaded bills, exclusive housings 3a to 3c for the respective money types in which the input bills are housed, switching gates 4a, 4b that guide to the exclusive housings 3a to 3c the bills, the money types of which have been determined, delivery sections 5a to 5c for delivering bills from the exclusive housings 3a to 3c, an output-money identification section 6 for identifying the delivered bills, a switching gate 7 that operates according to a result of identification by the output-money identification section 6, an output money reject housing 8 that houses the bills that have been determined by the output-money identification section 6 not to be output, and an output port 9 from which bills to be output are unloaded.
In a money loading or input operation of the bill-processing machine, bills are input through the input port 1, and the input-money identification section 2 determines the money types of the bills. Then, the bills, the money type of which can not be determined, are returned, while the bills, the money type of which has been determined, are loaded. The switching gate 4a or 4b operates depending on the result of the money type determination made by the input-money identification section 2, and the bills, the money type of which has been determined, are guided to the exclusive housing 3a, 3b or 3c corresponding to the money type, where they are accumulated and housed.
In a money output operation, the delivery sections 5a to 5c deliver a required number of the bills of the corresponding money types that are accumulated and housed in the exclusive housings 3a to 3c, starting from the bill located at the top, and the output-money identification section 6 identifies the bills, which are then transferred to the output port 9 and unloaded therefrom. In case the money type of the bill can not be determined, for example, overlapping or counterfeit bill, the transfer path for the bill is switched by the switching gate 7 and housed in the output money reject housing 8.
The bill-processing machine is configured so that the three types of bills are housed in the separately provided exclusive housings, respectively, but may be adapted to be housed in a common housing, two types of bills, that is, 5,000 and 10,000 yen, which are less frequently used, thereby reducing the number of housings and the size of the machine. In this case, if, in a money output operation, a bill delivered when 5,000 yen is required as change is determined to be a 10,000 yen bill, this 10,000 yen bill is housed in the output money reject housing, as it is the money type that is not reused as change.
The conventional bill-processing machine, however, can determine the number of bills (existing amount) for each money type, but if any overlapping bills are found during output, these bills are housed in the output money reject housing. Thus, the actual number of the bills in the housing is unequal to the number of the bills available as change, so that this change unloading machine can not identify the number of the bills reduced due to output, thereby preventing the existing amount from being determined accurately.
In addition, if a plurality of money types (for example, 1,000- and 5,000-yen bills) are used as change, at least two housings must be provided, thereby hindering the cost and size reduction of the bill-processing machine.
The present invention has been made in view of these points, and its object is to provide a method for controlling a bill-processing machine, which enables the existing amount of bills housed in the machine to be determined as required.
To achieve this object, the present invention provides a method for controlling a bill-processing machine comprising an input-money identification section for identifying a loaded bill, a bill housing that receives the identified bills through a receiving port to accumulate and house the bills and that unloads the accumulated and housed bills through an unloading port, an output-money identification section for identifying the unloaded bills, a circulating path through which the unloaded bills are guided to the receiving port in the bill housing, and a switching gate that switches a transfer path for the unloaded bills to an output port or the circulating path. The method comprises the steps of using the input-money identification section to identify the loaded bills based on detection of loading of the bills, increasing the existing amounts in existing-amount memories for the corresponding money types depending on the result of the input bill identification, sequentially unloading bills from the bill housing based on a money output instruction, and using the output-money identification section to identify the unloaded bill. If the identified bill is to be output, the switching gate is switched to the output port to reduce the existing amount in the existing-amount memory for the corresponding money type of the bill guided to the output port, and if the identified bill is not to be output, the switching gate is switched to the circulating path, this step being repeated until the indicated amount to be output has been reached.
According to this method for controlling the bill-processing machine, when the bills are unloaded from the bill housing, the number of bills guided to the output port is subtracted from the existing-amount memories for the corresponding money types, whereas the number of bills circulated to the bill housing because they have been determined to be false bills (including overlapping bills) or to be of an irrelevant money type is not subtracted from the existing-amount memories. This configuration enables the number of bills housed in the bill-processing machine to be constantly determined for each money type. In addition, this configuration uses only one circulatory bill housing to enable the cost and size of the bill-processing machine to be reduced.
In addition, the method includes the steps of detecting a dummy bill housed in the bill housing while circulating the bills in the bill housing based on a close inspection instruction, clearing a close inspection counter, sequentially delivering the bills from the bill housing, allowing the output-money identification section to perform output-money identification, sequentially increasing the number of the bills in the close inspection counter according to the determined money types, and stopping the operation of delivering the bills from the bill housing based on the detection of the dummy bill again.
Thus, even if reserve change is supplied in bundles or is manually supplied to the bill-processing machine and the contents of the existing-amount memories are unequal to the amount of money actually existing in the machine, the amount of the housed bills can be constantly determined.